Integrated manufacturing of REciclable multi-material COmposites for the TRANSport sector

RECOTRANS has participated in 2nd CIRP Conference on Composite Material Parts Manufacturing in Sheffield, UK. 

The aim of the event is  share novel production research, technologies and solutions throughout the global composite manufacturing community in the areas of ‘Design & Lifecycle’, ‘Part Generation’ and ‘Finishing & Assembly’. 

The conference discussed ‘Compression RTM of reactive thermoplastic composites using microwaves and cure monitoring’. The project partners presented the progress of RECOTRANS: 

An advanced process monitoring system and production platform were developed and applied successfully for the acceleration of the reaction and the intelligent process monitoring of the manufacturing of composites using a liquid reactive thermoplastic resin. 

The DC-based cure monitoring system can provide in real-time the evolution of the reaction and as a result it allows for real-time quality and process control purposes during manufacturing. 

Its combination with microwave curing proved efficient and without any effect of microwaves in the electric field of the sensor. 

The next challenge in Recotrans project is to combine these two advanced technologies in the manufacturing of an automotive door panel, a truck suspension as well as a composite profile made by pultrusion all of them with the Elium® resin.

RECOTRANS has been presented at the last Composite in Rail Congress in Berlin. This event met expert speakers from across the supply chain to evaluate and discuss the challenges and opportunities for composite materials in the rail sector.

The conference covered key topics across rolling stock and rail infrastructure applications. RECOTRANS was introduced in the Material sustainability including recycling and bio-composites section. Not only the scope of the project was shown but also how the project will contribute to accelerate the state-of-the-art and which barriers would need to overcome to reduce the time-to-market.

Scientific papers publications give the opportunity of showing promising results of research. This is the case of the paper called “Compression RTM of reactive thermoplastic composites using microwaves and cure monitoring” published in the Scientist Direct journal. This paper shows the advantage of three key drivers: the thermoplastic resin (ARKEMA), the microwave (MW) curing technology (Fraunhofer-ICT) and the on-line monitoring curing control (Synthesites). The combination of these aspects brings about improvements on the current manufacturing process of composite parts which use thermoset resin and long curing process. Apart from that, the advantage of the on-line monitoring of the resin curing process allow to optimise the process itself and obtain a high-quality product.

The fourth consortium meeting of the RECOTRANS Project was held in coincidence with its 18 months of life. The meeting, hosted by both Istanbul Technical University and Mercedes Benz Turkey, took place in Istanbul during 3^rd and 4^th of April 2019.

The first day, at Istanbul Technical University, partners could present and discuss about already finished Work Packages and the progress of the ongoing ones.

Work package 1 was ended up in M18, therefore the final demonstrator designs were already completed.

In the work package 2 new experiments were carried out in order to define the most suitable procedure for the laser assisted metal-polymer joining by Tecnoclad. The adhesion between the metal part and composite samples manufactured with different resins developed by ARKEMA were assessed. Besides, an extensive information provided by the computational modelling carried out by ITÜ of the novel thermoplastic resin and the long fibre reinforced composite provided a better approach of the raw material behaviour.

During the work package 3 and 4 explanation, Fraunhofer ICT showed the evaluation of the numerical simulation of microwave (MW) field inside the mould for the RTM and pultrusion process. This is a key aspect in order to define the curing parameters with the MW where Synthesites and INEA will monitor the curing cycle. Additionally, the mould design for the three demonstrators started to be analysed (MBT-Far-UK, Gestamp and STAV-Polymec).

In parallel, CTAG defined the relevant information for the LCA study and its economic analysis. Results from this assessment will show the economic costs of the new process compared with the conventional processes.

The second day, at Mercedes Benz Turkey, partners had time for working in groups for the Automotive, Truck and Train demonstrators and, additionally, an exploitation workshop was held.

In the forthcoming months, the manufacturing of moulds for the RTM and pultrusion processes will start alongside the integration of the MW. The next consortium meeting will take place on October 2019 at the Fraunhofer ICT facilities.

RECOTRANS was present at JEC World Paris 2019 by AIMPLAS. Our partner was an exhibitor at the fair and explained the Project to interested visitors.

We had the opportunity to show the objectives of the project and how they will contribute to the composite industry mainly in the transport sector.

Moreover, RECOTRANS´s partners AIMPLAS, SYNTHESIS and POLYMEC met and exchanged the last progress of the project regarding the train demonstrator.

RECOTRANS rollup was shown at Jornada Composites 360 hosted by AIMPLAS.

AIMPLAS held the Composite 360 Congress on the 14th February 2019. The agenda was focused on the last and novel developments of the Composite Industry: efficient manufacturing, sustainable raw materials, recycling, etc.

RECOTRANS project was shown as an example of the Factories of the Future and how the multimaterials, microwave (MW) manufacturing process and laser joining can meet the objectives of the Commission’s low emission mobility strategy.

Abstract, full paper and poster by ARKEMA and SYNTHESITES related to RECOTRANS project were accepted for International Conference & Exhibition on Thermoplastic Composites in Germany.

As partners within the RECOTRANS project, ARKEMA develops a thermoplastic resin suitable for the microwave (MW) radiation whereas SYNTHESITES is in charge of the monitoring of the curing process of the resin. Both collaborations bring a great expertise to the project and will allow to achieve the objectives successfully: reductions at the manufacturing process.

The third consortium meeting of the RECOTRANS Project was held on the 4^th October, in coincidence with its 12 months of life. The meeting, hosted by CTAG, took place in Vigo, where the 13 project partners from 7 different countries could present their progress of the project during the last 12 months, work on technical details and define next steps to be taken.

Additionally, the monitor expert PhD Jiri Muller attended the meeting. We could share with him the progress of the project as well as any improvement for a greater success.

Once the technical requirements were defined in the first 6 months, in the second semester of the project, some trials at the pilot plant level at AIMPLAS facilities have been carried out in order to validate and optimize both the developed materials and the manufacturing process of one of the three finals demonstrator, the train sector.

In the upcoming months, the RTM trials will be carried out at pilot plant level at ICT facilities while the demo and tooling design will be finalised. Finally, the scale-up of the manufacturing process with microwave system and laser joining into the two processes proposed within the project: RTM and Pultrusion, will start in month 25.

STAV presented RECOTRANS projects at two events: FORO EMPLEO Conference (april 2018) and Workshop with UPV professors (July 2018).

Pitch Event “Nano-Carbon Enhanced Materials consortium (NCEM) meeting” at Fraunhofer institute IFAM Munchen by INEA 

Our partner MBT was speaker at JEC Chiago 2018 with the conference:

Increasing the Quality of Simulations for Advanced Composites in Heavy Duty Commercial Vehicles

- Bridging the gap with measurements, to reach better lightweight performance 
- Detecting the effects of the parameters while manufacturing and being under road conditions
- Case studies involving various plastic & FRP parts of trucks and buses

RECOTRANS partner TECNOCLAD has been selected as one of the most innovative companies of 2018 at the EXpo Day CEEI Valencia, where they spoke about the Project.

http://ceeivalencia.emprenemjunts.es/?op=14&n=13412

RECOTRANS poster was shown at the International Seminar Plastics are Future organized by AIMPLAS.

The second consortium meeting of the RECOTRANS Project, coordinated by AIMPLAS, was held on the 9th March, in coincidence with its 6 months of live.

The objective of this project is to create a new manufacturing system for obtaining multi-material metal composites products suitable for the transport industry, obtaining high quality lightweight multi-materials at high production rates; reducing production cost, energy consumption and time to market and contributing to reduce CO2 emissions.

The meeting, organized by ARKEMA, was held in Paris, where the most relevant European event in the field of composites, JEC World 2018 was taking place. Additionally, in a conference in this event, the main researcher of the project from AIMPLAS, Anabel Crespo, explained the objectives and progress of the project.

During the meeting, the 13 project partners from 7 different countries could share their progress on the project, work on technical details and to define next steps to be taken.

In the first 6 months of the project, the progress has been focused on the requirements definition, either from the material and production system, for the three demonstrators that will be produced in the project (parts for automotive, truck and railway sector), together with the selection and adaptation of materials. The consortium has also published the first public deliverable of the project about regulatory, standardization and safety issues in the transport sector, which is available through the project website www.recotransproject.eu.

Next steps will be the definition and design of the three demonstrators, the final formulation of the materials, the definitions of the laser technology parameters and the integration of the microwave technology into the Resin Transfer Moulding and pultrusion lines.

RECOTRANS Project was present at JEC World 2018 in Paris. Anabel Crespo, senior project researcher from AIMPLAS, explained the project during in a conference in the event.

The title of the conference was Recyclable multi-material composites, and it treated the fllowing issues:

- MW radiation for composite curing
- Laser joining
- Long fiber thermoplastic composites

RECOTRANS was presented at Polymer & Nanocomposites Symposium and Seminar at Istanbul Technical University, Istanbul / TURKEY with the title “Composite and Hybrid Lightening Solutions for Automotive Industry”.

Kick-off Meeting of the RECOTRANS Project, coordinated by AIMPLAS, was held on the 5th October.

The objective of this project is to create a new manufacturing system for obtaining multi-material metal composites products suitable for the transport industry, obtaining high quality lightweight multi-materials at high production rates; reducing production cost, energy consumption and time to market and contributing to reduce CO2 emissions.

At this first meeting, the 13 project partners from 7 different countries could share their general view of the project and to plan in detail the steps to be taken in the next 6 months.

During this first stage of the project, the progress will focus on the requirements definition, either from the material and production system, for the three demonstrators that will be produced in the project (parts for automotive, truck and railway sector), together with the selection and adaptation of materials. 

During the meeting, partners also visited AIMPLAS’s facilities, where the meeting was held, and TECNOCLAD’s (project partner) facilities, both in Paterna (Valencia – SPAIN).